The invention generally relates to a wireless network with a mobile station (MS) and, more particularly, to a method for displaying a roaming charge rate on an MS and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the invention is also amenable to other applications.
Mobile subscribers have service plans with a certain wireless service provider for access to a wireless network, which, in turn, provides access to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and, potentially, other wireless networks. The wireless network associated with the subscriber's wireless service provider is known as a home wireless network. The home wireless network covers a certain geographic area that may be referred to as a home coverage area. When the MS is taken outside the home coverage area and into an area covered by another wireless network, it is said to be roaming. The wireless network in which the MS is roaming is known as a visited wireless network.
Many subscribers are assessed a roaming charge when the MS is used in a visited wireless network. Typically, the roaming charge is based on a per-minute rate (e.g., $ 0.35/minute, $1.50/minute, etc.). When roaming, the MS may inform users that they are outside of the home coverage area with a simple “roam” indication on a display. The problem is that often the user or subscriber does not have the latest information on what the roaming charge rate is for the visited network. Coverage maps are usually not accurate or up-to-date and, in some areas, a user that is traveling can quickly roam into several visited wireless networks, each network potentially having different roaming charge rates.
As a result, not knowing the roaming charge rates they may be charged for using the MS, subscribers or users carrying a MS that indicates it is roaming often refrain from placing calls and may choose to not answer in-coming calls until they return to a home coverage area. This unnecessarily inconveniences the subscriber or user and contributes to lost revenue for wireless service providers when the roaming charge rate was low enough that the subscriber or user would have used the MS if he or she had known the rate.
Thus, there is motivation for a method for displaying a roaming charge rate on an MS.